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Jody Scheckter
|birthplace = East London, South Africa |death date = |placeofdeath = |nationality = |status = Retired |firstrace = 1972 United States Grand Prix |firstwin = 1974 Swedish Grand Prix |lastrace = 1980 United States Grand Prix |lastwin = 1979 Italian Grand Prix }} Jody David Scheckter (born January 29, 1950 in East London, South Africa) is a former racing driver who raced in Formula One, winning the World Championship with in . Formula One Career After moving to Britain in 1970, Scheckter quickly progressed up to F1, making his début with in the final race of the season, in which he finished ninth. He continued to drive for McLaren, albeit sparingly and without any success, in . In , Scheckter was given his first full-time drive, with the team. After a slow start, Scheckter scored points in eight consectutive races, including two wins. With one more podium to come, Scheckter came an impressive third. was a season of ups and downs. Scheckter notched up many non-pointscoring finishes, but despite this, he managed to win a race and score two other podiums. After a decent start to , Tyrrell introduced one of F1's most iconic cars, the six wheeled P34. The car was quick and reliable, and Scheckter constantly scored points, mostly second places, and even headed a Tyrrell one-two at the . Scheckter came third in the championship for the second time in three years. For , Scheckter moved to the new team, which was the surpise package of the season. Scheckter was the team's only driver, and amazingly, he won the the first race of the season. Scheckter continued to finish races on the podium, and finished the season as runner-up to Niki Lauda despite Scheckter's three wins. Unfortuanately, Wolf's car was not as good as the 1977 one, and Scheckter had a winless year, although he managed to finish on the podium four times. Scheckter moved to in , with instant success. The car was always near the front, and very reliable. Scheckter scored three wins, like his team mate Gilles Villeneuve, and with three second places and many points finishes, Scheckter took the title by four points over his team mate. Despite upgrading the 1979 car, the Ferrari driven by both Scheckter and Villeneuve in was awful, the team coming in tenth place in the championship. Scheckter's season was the worse of the two, only scoring two points at the United States Grand Prix West, and even failing to qualify at the penultimate race. Scheckter retired at the end of the season. After Formula One In 1981, Scheckter won the World Superstars Championships, defeating many top-class athletes. He later set up a business which made products used for firearms training. Scheckter currently runs an organic farm. Formula One Statistical Overview Formula One Record Career Statistics Race Wins Career Results | ||||| | |0|NC}} |13th|8th| | | | | | | | | | | | |45|3rd}} | | |7th| |7th|16th|9th| | |8th|8th| |20|7th}} | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |49|3rd}} | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |10th|55|2nd}} | | | | | | | | | | |12th|12th| | |24|7th}} | | | | | | |7th| | | | | | | |51 (60)|1st}} | | | |8th| |12th|10th|13th|13th|9th|8th| |11th|2|19th}} Notes External links * Wikipedia article * Manipe F1 article Category:Living people Category:1950 births Category:South African Drivers Category:World Championship Winning Drivers Category:1972 Début Drivers Category:McLaren Drivers Category:Tyrrell Drivers Category:Wolf Drivers Category:Ferrari Drivers Category:GPDA Chairmen Category:Jody Scheckter